In oil fields, drill strings are frequently connected by Hydril-type connectors, which involve a two step thread design, as is well known to those in the art. For instance, Hydril-type connectors are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,532,632, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference for the teachings of the Hydril-type connectors therein.
The prior art has made extensive use of "O" rings and similar sealing means, in the sealing of pipes and the like. See, for instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,054,628; 3,167,333; 2,980,451; 2,889,733; 2,813,567; 2,770,477; and 2,553,340. Generally the sealing rings or gaskets of these prior art patents have been made of Teflon or similar plastic material.
The use of rings of plastic or rubber, or the like, in rotary tools is also known to the art, see, for instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,102,072 and 2,110,127. Finally, the use of Teflon as a sealing ring in Hydril-type connectors is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,907,589 and 3,100,656. In these patents, the Teflon seal ring is located in the area of the free terminal forward end of the pin member of the Hydril-type connector. If such sealing rings are located on the pin member, they are highly susceptible to damage, and if located on the box member they are quite difficult to install, and subject to a tendency to be locally deranged in an unpredictable manner as the joint is made up.
The present invention generally relates to improvements in threaded-type joints and methods of making same, and in particular relates to the design and construction of sealed, screw-threaded oil well tubing and drill string joints which are capable of being rapidly made up to postive pressure seal condition, and rapidly broken apart without damage to the threads or seal during either make up or breaking of the joint under conditions of repeated severe usage in the field. In particular, the present invention is directed to improvements in Hydril-type connectors, wherein the connector is capable of maintaining full well pressure, even though the conventional metal-to-metal seating surfaces of the Hydril-type connector are damaged. The present invention is applicable to inserted joints, wherein one pipe end is screwed directly into the end of another pipe end, to couplings in which the opposed ends of two pipes are threaded into a tubular collar, and to other similar types of pipe end connections.
As acknowledged hereinabove, many different designs of screw threaded pin and box type tubing and drill pipe joints have been proposed by the prior art. However, in spite of the many proposals, a number of problems have remained unsolved, especially those problems having to do with a method of adequately and enduringly sealing a Hydril-type connector after the metal-to-metal seating surfaces have been damaged, which is a frequent occurrence, against the extremely high fluid pressures which are encountered in deep drilled oil and gas wells. For instance, such pressures might range as high as 15,000 psi.
The rubber O-rings and compressible rubber gaskets, such as those of the patents acknowleged hereinabove, have from time to time been used to seal pipe and tubing joints, and under certain operating conditions, especially when relatively low pressures are involved, they have proven to be thoroughly satisfactory. However, such seals have not been suitable for use under the high temperature and pressure conditions which are encountered in deep oil and gas wells. For one thing, these relatively thin rubber rings when used in the prior art joints tend to be badly damaged, and often rendered useless, by being extruded under the well pressure into small clearances between the joint members at the seal ring groove. Compressive ring gaskets, such as of rubber and asbestos, have also been found to be susceptible to damage, probably as a result of a combination of sliding friction and high compressive loads, during make up of the pipe joint with power tools.
Joints used for the purpose of connecting drill pipe lengths or tubing lengths must be made up with a tight fit on tapered lateral contact surfaces in order to provide the required degree of rigidity needed to resist lateral bending stress with a minimum of fatigue. It is, however, difficult to produce sealed joints having both a tight fit on tapered, lateral contact surfaces, and a longitudinally compressed ring gasket, as even very small variations in the machining of the tapered lateral contact surfaces results in significant displacement variations in the longitudinal make up of the joints, with resultant differences of degree in the amount of compression applied to the ring gasket, which will sometimes be damaged by too great a compression, or may be compressed insufficiently to adequately seal the joint.
Difficulties of this nature have lead to the use of special pipe and tubing joints which have tapered seating elements employing highly polished metal-to-metal fits as a means of sealing against very high oil pressure, and such joints, when made up carefully under ideal conditions, are entirely capable of sealing against such high well pressures. This type of joint, referred to hereinafter as the Hydril-type connector, is generally more costly to manufacture than more conventional pipe and tubing joints, and the polished sealing surfaces or seats are quite susceptible to damage when the joints are made up and broken out under operating conditions encountered in the oil fields. Damage may occur as a result of direct or sliding impact of the pin seat against the end of the box when the lower end of a suspended, relatively heavy pipe stand is stabbed into a joint on the upper end of the pipe which precedes the suspended pipe stand into the well.
Furthermore, the polished metal-to-metal sealing areas or seats are also quite susceptible to damage at the time the joints are screwed together, as even quite small particles of dirt or sand, if trapped between the mating seats, are capable of scoring or producing galling which may completely destroy the effectiveness of the metal-to-metal seal. Excessive friction, caused by overtightening, lack of lubrication, or rapid make up, will occasionally cause the tight fitting metal-to-metal seats to gall during the last fraction of a turn as the joints are screwed together.
In an effort to avoid the entrapment of dirt and sand particles between the seating surfaces as the joints are screwed together, the prior art has customarily made the metal-to-metal contact area between the seats relatively narrow. The prior art may provide one joint member with an arcuate seating surface and the mating member with a conical seating surface to obtain a line of contact between the two surfaces. However, such narrow seating surfaces are not generally desirable because they are quite vunerable to attack by the corrosive fluids which are often present in oil and gas wells. In this regard, the corrosive need penetrate only a relatively short distance in order to completely destroy the line of metal-to-metal contact existing between the two joint surfaces, and thereby destroy the seal.
Thread damage is frequently caused by the vertical stabbing of threaded pin ends of suspended heavy pipe stands into threaded box ends of pipe or pipe collars supported beneath the pipe stands. This damage usually occurs when the entire stabbling load falls on the relatively thin and frail thread ends of the threaded pin and box members. A damaged end thread on one joint member will often damage, and occasionally destroy, a number of additional threads on both members should the pin and box be screwed together before the thread end damage is discovered.
The Hydril-type connectors, because of their relatively delicate sealing areas, are easily damaged. Damage to the Hydril-type connector sealing areas has heretofore required that the unit be scraped, or shop repaired at great expense.
The Hydril Company commercially offers a patented tubing connection, with a Teflon ring located in the box member at a location such that when the connection is made up the ring will be at the free terminal end of the pin. It is indicated that the prime purpose of this ring is to complete the corrosion protection afforded by plastic coated pipe. The advertising material also indicates that the connection may be specified where an additional highpressure seal is desired.
The Rucker Atlas Bradford Company has offered leak-proof tubing to the trade, using conventional thread profile, but modifying the coupling by machining out one and one-half threads near each end of the internally threaded coupling and installing a Teflon ring in the resultant retaining groups. In another version, a pin and box member design is provided wherein a groove is machined inside the box member to retain a Teflon seal ring.